[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 106 (Monday, June 4, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30820-30821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10674]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Chiricahua Leopard
Frog Recovery Plan
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability: final recovery plan for Chiricahua
leopard frog.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of a final recovery plan for the Chiricahua leopard frog
(Rana chiricahuensis). The species occurs in central and southeastern
Arizona, west-central and southwestern New Mexico, and the sky islands
and Sierra Madre Occidental of northeastern Sonora and northwestern
Chihuahua, Mexico. The Chiricahua Leopard Frog Recovery Plan (Recovery
Plan) presents information on the species and its habitat, including
delisting criteria and recovery actions to conserve the species.
ADDRESSES: You may access this document from our Web site, http://fws.gov/arizonaes/. Copies of the Recovery Plan are also available on
compact disk or in hard copy. To obtain a copy, contact Jim Rorabaugh
by U.S. mail at Arizona Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 2321 West Royal Palm Road, Suite 103, Phoenix, AZ
85021-4951.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Rorabaugh (see ADDRESSES), (602)
242-0210 x238 (telephone) or [email protected] (e-mail).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 30821]]
Background
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.), requires the development of recovery plans for listed
species unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a
particular species. Section 4(f) of the Act, as amended in 1988,
requires that public notice and an opportunity for public review and
comment be provided during recovery plan development. On April 12,
2006, we published a notice of document availability in the Federal
Register announcing the availability for public review of the draft
Recovery Plan (71 FR 18767). We accepted public comments through June
12, 2006. We also conducted peer review at this time. We received six
letters of comment during the comment period. Based on this input, we
revised and finalized the Recovery Plan.
The Recovery Plan describes the status, current management,
recovery objectives and criteria, and specific actions needed to
recover and delist the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog. The Recovery
Plan was developed by a recovery team, including a Technical Subgroup
and three Stakeholders Subgroups, in coordination with the Service. The
Technical Subgroup included experts on the species, conservation
biology, and other relevant topics. The Stakeholders Subgroups included
land owners and managers, agency representatives, ranchers, the mining
industry, environmental organizations, herpetologists, and other
interested parties.
The Chiricahua leopard frog is an inhabitant of a variety of valley
and montane aquatic habitats, such as springs, pools, cattle tanks,
lakes, reservoirs, streams, and rivers. The frog has disappeared from
more than 80 percent of its historical localities due to threats
including predation by non-native organisms, especially American
bullfrogs, fishes, and crayfish; the fungal disease chytridiomycosis;
drought; floods; degradation and loss of habitat as a result of water
diversions, groundwater pumping, and livestock management that has or
continues to degrade frog habitats; a long history of fire suppression,
mining, development, and other human activities; disruption of
metapopulation dynamics; increased chance of extirpation or extinction
resulting from small numbers of populations and individuals existing in
dynamic environments; and probably environmental contamination (such as
runoff from mining operations and airborne contaminants from copper
smelters).
Actions needed to recover the Chiricahua leopard frog include
protection of existing populations and occupied habitats, creation or
restoration of additional habitats and populations, control of non-
native predators and minimizing spread of disease, monitoring of the
recovery effort and frog populations, research that will facilitate
better and more efficient recovery, and adaptive management. The
Recovery Plan provides delisting criteria for the species that will
indicate the species is no longer threatened with extinction throughout
all or a significant portion of its range. When the following criteria
have been met, the species may be considered for removal from the List
of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife: (1) At least two metapopulations
located in different drainages plus at least one isolated and robust
population in each recovery unit exhibit long-term persistence and
stability as demonstrated by a scientifically acceptable population
monitoring program; (2) Aquatic breeding habitats necessary for
persistence of metapopulations and isolated populations are protected
and managed; (3) Additional habitat needed for population connectivity,
recolonization, and dispersal is protected and managed; and (4) Threats
and causes of decline have been reduced or eliminated, and commitments
of long-term management are in place in each recovery unit such that
the Chiricahua leopard frog is unlikely to need protection under the
Act in the foreseeable future.
Authority
The authority for this action is Section 4(f) of the Endangered
Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f).
Dated: March 14, 2007.
Benjamin N. Toggle,
Regional Director, Region 2, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
[FR Doc. E7-10674 Filed 6-1-07; 8:45 am]
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